Good Morning. It is a great pleasure to see so many old and new friends this morning. I have been active in Korea-American business relations for more than twenty years, and have rarely seen such a wide range of Korean and U.S. opinion leaders in one room. Within this room we have representatives from Korean and American business, from government and academia. In addition we have Korean and American trade and industry representatives, as well as members of the media from both countries. We also have several individu-als representing U.S. public opinion as well. For me, this is an extremely inter-esting opportunity to learn more about the views of U.S. opinion leaders, and how Korean firms and institutions might proceed to communicate more effec-tively with U.S. audiences. I hope that all of you will take advantage of this opportunity to engage in a frank exchange of views so that we might work together to present a more informed picture of Korea in the U.S., our largest and most important overseas market.

While I have been active in Korea-U.S. business relations for more than twenty years, and have served as the chief representative of the Sunkyong Group in the United States for many years, one of the proudest achievements of my career has been my appointment two months ago, as the Chairman of KOCHAM, the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry in USA. This is a very exciting and interesting time to assume this chairmanship, and over the past few months, I have learned a lot , hearing from a wide range of Koreans and Americans. The release of our report last month has received a very positive response, from both Korean and U.S. audiences. For the last two weeks, I have been traveling with Mr. Chang of Federation of Korean Industries, our friends at the Korea Economic Institute, and nu-merous Korean and American colleagues up and down the east coast from Boston to Atlanta on the Korea corporate caravan, where we have been meeting with local communities to discuss the situation in Korea, and how U.S. and Korean businessmen, can work together to expand and strengthen commercial relationships between our two countries.

I choose the word "interesting" to describe my experience as Chairman of KOCHAM quite deliberately, as the word interesting can signify both crisis and opportunity. I believe that this is an appropriate metaphor for Korea today.

Any reader of the Korean or the U.S. press is familiar with the many problems that Korea faces today. In the almost twenty years I have been serving in the U.S., I can rarely recall a time when Korea has been featured so prominently in the media. As a Korean businessman and a proud member of the Korean na-tion, I am disturbed by this news and worried by the impressions it will bring and its impact on our public image.

On the other hand, I view this as a major opportunity as well. I have no fear that Korea will, over time, recover from its current difficulties. Many of you have been following our country for many years, and have seen Korea through economic downturns in the past. Over the long term, I am sure you will agree that we will emerge stronger in the end.

I state, however, that this is a major opportunity, as the newfound prominence of Korea in the media, albeit for seemingly negative reasons, helps us to em-phasize to our Korean colleagues the critical need to raise our public profile. It also presents us with an opportunity to build on the current interest in our country to tell our story in a positive way.

This is vital if our nation is to retain and expand its economic competitive-ness. As I have mentioned, Korea has experienced economic downturns in the past, and we have always emerged stronger in the end. Our strategy has usu-ally been to focus on new industries, cost controls and other production-ori-ented solutions. As the business cycle shifted in our favor, we have reaped the benefits.

This time, however, I fear it is different. The focus of Korean business has shifted dramatically over the last thirty years. We can see this in the concerns of KOCHAM members. As recently as even several years ago they were largely export fo-cused and primarily concerned with import regulations and distribution issues. Today, they are actively developing and implementing global strategies and working to become better managers and good corporate citizens.

This shift has several important implications. First, the move toward global strategies requires increased investments and operations overseas, which re-sults in more and more interactions with employees, local communities and other stakeholders who are not Korean. Many of these people are not familiar with our cultural values and business practices. Building more inclusive corporate cultures that can accomodate the diverse interests of employees, consumers, communities and investors from around the world represents a considerable challenge and will require different skills and a different approach from those that we have employed in the past. In the future Korean managers will have to spend less time dealing with production and technical issues and more time managing more abstract issues such as marketing, public affairs, employee and investor relations and other functions that are essential to maintaining our competitiveness over the long term.

Second, global strategies require a higher overhead than an export-oriented operation. Compounded with the rising costs of doing business in Korea, more attention must be paid to moving beyond the production of non-branded, OEM and intermediate goods and toward the development of the brands and con-sumer franchises which can add value and help us to raise margins and to maintain and expand economic growth and the wealth of our nation.

This will require far greater capabilities and attention to marketing, sales, public relations and other areas where more effective and efficient communications skills are essen-tial.

Raising the communications capabilities of Korean firms will have other bene-fits as well. I have often thought about the potential for wider alliances, coop-eration, strategic investments and joint marketing agreements between U.S. and Korean firms. Our production capabilities, and our distribution networks, particularly in the emerging markets of tomorrow, are formidable. Combined with U.S. capabilities in marketing, information services, technology, financial and other business services, the potential is enormous. More effective and effi-cient communications would help us to explore these possibilities together and to build the trust and good will necessary to move forward.

These are only a few of the many issues which we have explored in the FKI/KOCHAM opinion leader survey, which was conducted by KWR International, and which we plan to discuss further over the course of this day. At this time, I would like to introduce you to Keith W. Rabin, President of KWR International, who will provide you with an overview of the results of their research.

Thank you very much for attending and I look forward to talking more with you over the course of this day.